HALLOWEEN FUN...THE GHOSTS, THE WITCHES AND PUMPKINS

Oh the fun we had, the memories we hold dear....
Halloween was a magical, wonderous night in my youth...
I wish everyone had those times in their life of excitement,
the harvest moon shining down as all of the children
who were dressed as little witches, ghosts, goblins
and woodland babies, traveled the neighborhood
enjoying candy apples, popcorn balls and chocolates...

 

I am afraid this has slowly faded over the years....
making way for fall fests and carnivals ..
Not at our house....we have always loved HALLOWEEN night.....
and will carve the pumpkins and serve a pumpkin stew
as we delight in the Trick or Treaters......

Sweet treats include Black Cat cookies...just adorable

A delicious homemade Butter Pecan Cake 

My memories are shared among many of us who were children
that grew up in the 60's
the following is a writing shared by Jeff from 60'a Memories....

Chilly walks through the neighborhood on a brisk October day
 brought to life the excitement of the Halloween season. I truly miss those days of innocence, where tales of Halloween pumpkins and ghosts and goblins inhabited my imaginary domain. School hallways were decorated with all the pomp and circumstance afforded to such a wonderful and exciting time. Before I was all snug in my bed, I had visions of Halloween candy dancing in my head. In a warm classroom decorated with cut-out pumpkins, scarecrows, and black cats, I was thoroughly delighted with October.
I waited on pins and needles for that long-awaited festivity of going out into the night knocking on doors and shouting "Trick-or-Treat!".
 However, I also knew there'd be a crashing emptiness once it was over, much like the day after Christmas. Life was beautiful for me in those beloved days.
Creaking screen doors, and a yellow moon in a night sky through
 passing clouds entertained my thoughts.
Those were the images of childhood, innocent, free and unfettered by the world.
It was 1963, and life was beautiful.

Little ghost candle
2023

CUTE AS A PUMPKIN
1994...ENESCO CALICO KITTENS HALLOWEEN

WICKED RIDE
2008
Jim Shore Creekwood Collection

A darling, beautifully illustrated children's book..

Ghosts are supposed to be sheets, light as air and able to whirl and twirl and float and soar. But the little ghost who is a quilt can’t whirl or twirl at all, and when he flies, he gets very hot.

He doesn’t know why he’s a quilt. His parents are both sheets, and so are all of his friends. (His great-grandmother was a lace curtain, but that doesn’t really help cheer him up.) He feels sad and left out when his friends are zooming around, and he can’t keep up.

But one Halloween, everything changes. The little ghost who was a quilt has an experience that no other ghost could have, an experience that only happens because he’s a quilt . . . and he realizes that it’s OK to be different.

HAZEL, A GOOD WITCH
1984...Tom Carin collection

LET THE MAGIC BEGIN
2004
Jim Shore Creekwood Collection

'Little by little, bit by bit
something happened to the Jack O Lantern
in the frosty air, it shut it's mouth against the cold wind"

HALLOWEEN BAR CART

Oh it's coming....HALLOWEEN!!!!
I had THE most fun creating this tribute to Halloween 
on our new bar cart....I have always wanted a bar cart
and it actually turned out so darn cute!
I don't do a lot of decorating for Halloween anymore,
but I never let one of our favorite special days pass without
bringing out some of my favorite vintage pieces....
let's take a look see.........

I plan on leaving all this décor as is, until it's time to
change it out for Christmas....
I think the grandchildren will enjoy looking at all the
vintage pieces and can use the mugs for hot cocoa or apple cider!
This darling little tea towel is from the MUD PIE line.

My collection of mugs are so darling....
I have a mix of Certified International and Johanna Parker mugs....

Would you just look at this precious little ghost candle...
I found this at Walmart and just knew he would be
the perfect addition to the finished look.

And.....a most fashionable witch....ready for all
the Trick or Treaters....

I also picked up this lighted moon and owl....so darn cute!

A bar cart has to include a bottle of Cabernet......

A favorite liqueur

They are all good spirits.....

Just love him.....

This was a really fun little project for the fall season.....

We are ready for Halloween which falls on Monday this year....
our little ones always look forward to this night of
going throughout our neighborhood and seeing all the
pumpkins aglow....

Leaves are falling and crunching underfoot..
Halloween brings back
many, many years of fun memories for us!

Autumn Vibes at Home

 

DEVIL'S FOOD COCONUT PECAN CAKE ....GETTING READY FOR HALLOWEEN!

From ghoulies and ghosties

And long-leggedy beasties

And things that go bump in the night,

Good Lord, deliver us!

– Old Scottish saying

We love Halloween here at Estelle's!

While visiting Austin a few weeks ago,

I found this adorable little witch to add to my collection!

The coffee bar has transformed into an adult edition of celebrating Halloween....

This has always been one of my favorite little sayings for this

magical night of Trick or Treating!

It's been SO much fun changing out the fall decor...

including the tea towels that hang on the oven door!

I was lucky enough to buy the very last witch on the shelf...

What an adorable addition she makes!

Would you just look at those painted nails...too, too cute!

Now, let's get to today's featured recipe...

this is a marvelous cake for a special Fall dinner...

I PROMISE.... you will want to save this recipe!!!

This boxed cake mix recipe is better than any from-scratch cake. You can use any flavor cake mix, but Devil’s Food is our personal favorite. It’s incredibly moist and fudgy thanks to the added sour cream and pudding mix. It’s similar to an Almond Joy, with surprises of chocolate chips, pecans and coconut!

DEVIL’S FOOD COCONUT PECAN CAKE

1 box of Devil’s Food Cake Mix

3 ounce package instant cream of coconut pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 t. vanilla

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Beat together the cake mix, pudding mix,
sour cream, oil, eggs, milk, vanilla and ¼ cup of chocolate chips.
 Pour batter into a prepared bundt pan,

Sprinkle the top with remaining chips, pecans and coconut.

Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool before inverting to a serving platter!

A NOD TO HALLOWEEN

Can you believe October is soon to be over?

It seems like I write about waiting for my favorite month to arrive,

when I find myself writing about Thanksgiving in the blink of an eye.

This is the first year in ages that I did not

create a tablescape for Halloween or a whimsical

Halloween mantel. 

But, I did create one little area in our kitchen

to remind us of a favorite holiday...HALLOWEEN!

I came across this adorable little witch and just had to add

her to my collection...she is SO cute....beautifully made

and she looks friendly, doesn't she?

Oh we had such wonderful Halloween's as children....

it was just a magical fun-filled night with the entire

neighborhood aglow with lights and everyone

out trick or treating with hundreds of Jack O Lanterns!

I am making devil's food cupcakes for the darling and me...

I keep my decorations cute and whimsical for all the little ones...

never scary....

My neighbors teenage son decorated their home

for Halloween and he did an excellent job!

We always look forward to the children and their costumes....

they are always so darn adorable!

I am also making an Italian Sausage Soup
with homemade Dill Bread....perfect for our final October evening.

All the treats are ready.....
I hope it turns out to be a wonderful evening
of fun.....we love it all!

source...Pinterest

HALLOWEEN PARTY FUN!

We had the most FUN weekend!

The day of the party arrived and preparation

was well underway for Tricks or Treats!

This is so much fun to prepare your costume

and decide what goodies to share at the party!

We absolutely LOVED seeing who everyone decided

to be for Halloween...it came as a surprise to each one of us!

We also treated ourselves to brunch at a new cafe, which recently

opened in The Colony called Another Broken Egg.

This place was really busy....we all decided it was 

"JUST OK" and have enjoyed better service

and a more welcoming "good morning"

at other establishments.

None the less....we enjoyed being out for breakfast!

The weather has been incredible for this last week in October!

We had a two hour drive to the party at son #2's house

so we began to get in to costume around 4:00 pm.....

Oh my goodness,  Jenn was adorable as bank robber,

with a gold sequined bag full of jewels and money,

with this handsome policeman (son #1) in hot pursuit.....

What a cute pair these two make!

The chase was on..........

Now, we come to Cruella Deville and her handsome referee date!

HUBBA HUBBA.....THAT MAN O' MINE......

oh....and he was a referee that was not seeing well.... hence 

the dark glasses and cane!!!

The Halloween gang.....off to see the wizard!

Late night.....great food, costumes, decorations and music!

Sunday morning, we dined on Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Rolls
and after weekend chores , we all plan on an afternoon nap
and Cowboy football!

OH, yes, the queso dip in my precious new little autumn crockpot
was a crowd pleaser, as was all those yummy finger foods...
who doesn't love a good Halloween party!!!!